Promise Me
by Keirra Maxwell
Summary: Heero learns the truth about Duo's feelings but now has to make sure he understands


"Promise" By Keirra Maxwell

"Promise Me" By Keirra Maxwell

His Prussian blue eyes looked over the overcast sky, wondering, waiting. The thunder roared loud in his ears, causing a part of him to tense up at the sound so likes that of gunfire. The war had ripped away the part of him that he thought was lost so long ago, the part of him that was human. But like a guardian angel, he had appeared to gently take the perfect solider away leaving only Heero Yuy behind. But where was his angel now.

*The braided baka's probably out checking out the local girls, just like usual. * He thought as he continued his vigil. Turning away from the window he moved to the small desk that sat in the large room shared between the two. A small black with gold inlay book caught his eye. It was simple, the wire bindings were slightly bent from long use as were the tips of the pages, torn in some cases and frayed. Although he tried to resist, it called to him to open the book and peer through the pages. Finally he pulled open the cover his eyes not showing his shock at the first page. It was dated in the year A.C 195, the same year the pilots had for the first time met on Earth and Operation Meteor had begun over 4 years ago. Duo's controlled handwriting covered the page, drawing Heero's eyes over the lines and into Duo's soul.

"Ac 195

The year is pretty much all I can put in this book considering the subject matter. Today I met him, met the person that I can pretty much guarantee is going to be my reason for getting through this war. I shot him, I'm such a baka but I thought that he was my enemy. When I looked into his eyes though, all I could pray to whatever god is up there was that he wasn't. I never believed in love at first sight before, but now I do."

Heero's heart leapt into his throat. *Love? I never thought that I could hope for that much in life* His mind floated back to all the carefully stored memories of those violet eyes that seemed to laugh at everything, the precious memory of Duo stepping in from the shower, his body glowing and knee length wave of chestnut hair cascading around his angelic form. That was over 3 years ago, when they had all first moved in together. Duo's face now filled his mind. The years had filled out the Shinigami, his height jumping to almost 6 feet now, his muscles firmed up and his face seemed older. The memory of the night they had all gotten drunk still remained fresh in Heero's mind. Mostly the moment where Duo had stumbled into the tattoo parlor demanding that the Japanese symbols for Shinigami were tattooed on his arm. The howl of pain as the tattoo ensued was although loud, surprisingly funny. A slight smile curled the lips of the Japanese pilot as that picture remained in his mind, leaning against the window, he continued to read as the thunder crashed overhead.

The long braid trailing behind the dark clothed figure hung limply in the pouring rain. Swearing softly under his breath, the American pilot of Deathscythe pulled his hat further over his eyes as he made his way towards the shared house of the pilots, his hands stuffed deeply into the pockets of his jacket. His eyes gleamed in the pale light of the streetlights as he further cursed just in case the storm had not caught the full meaning of his previous words. As he turned the corner, his focus on the storm caused his normally sharp detection skills to be lowered so lowered in fact that he did not feel the hard black bag coming down at his head until the last moment. The force caused his black hat to fall to the ground, the sticky flow of blood creeping down his skull as the violet eyes rolled backwards into his head, his braid flying out as he fell to the ground.

As Duo awoke, he forced his eyes open. Immediately as he did, he wished that he hadn't. The area was disgusting, dirty, and worst of all filled with the cruelest men the Shinigami had ever seen. The apparent leader sauntered up to Duo's fallen form, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

"Well now, what do we have here other than a Gundam Pilot himself." His rough fingers pushed under Duo's chin, lifting the angelic face up to face the torrent of his reeking breath "Pretty one too." 

Fear gripped Duo's heart as he forced his breakfast to stay in his stomach as the man traced a line down Duo's chest to his pants. His dirty hand rested there for a moment before his laugh filled the room as he pushed Duo away. The pilot simply grunted as he hit the ground hard, the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth where his teeth had sunk into his lip to keep his scream down. The last image he saw was the large hand of the soldier coming down towards his face, he struggled to keep his eyes open but all that came was darkness.

Heero's eyes snapped open at the surge in the pit of his stomach, as if something was in pain, or he thought suddenly, someone. Quatre's hand pressed against his chest, as his heart seemed to explode in pain and fear, the image of Duo flashing in his mind for a moment. He gasped deeply for breath as he sat up from the protective circle of Trowa's arms as Heero raced into the room. For the first time since he had met the Japanese pilot, Quatre saw true emotion in his eyes, fear and worry for the same person Quatre could see in his mind.

"Duo…" Heero started to say as Quatre rose up, pulling out the small gun from the nearby table and sliding it into the holster at the small of his back

"Let's go"

The always-silent figure of the pilot of Heavyarms appeared as well with Wufei as all four pilots ran off into the rain. Heero's heart pound loud in his ears as the rain plastered his hair down to his face. * Duo…*

The pair of tired violet eyes opened slightly as the sharp pain cut across his chest. He was bound to the wall; his arms opened up wide as if crucified. His shirt was torn the skin underneath scratched and bleeding profusely. Raising up his head, he could feel the rivers of blood flowing from the wounds across his face. It had been nearly two hours now, the constant question of where the Gundams were located pounding in Duo's head. Each time he had refused to tell, each time was rewarded with more torture. Long gashes covered his skin, leaving a coat of blood over his pale skin.

"Kuso…"

The man struck again, the blade flickering across Duo's chest leaving another blazing slash across the already ravaged body. Heero's eyes tightened as he watched the systematic torture of the braided boy, each time resulting in a new way to make those causing Duo pain suffer. He watched in almost near horror as the man casually moved to Duo's side again, forcing his head up with the tip of the knife then pressing his horrid lips to Duo's, smirking as the boy fought to pull away. Calmly, as if simply changing channels, Heero raised his magnum to be focused on the man violating his angel. With no change in emotion, the perfect solider released the bullet with a loud crack. Before the man could realize what had happened, the bullet buried itself deep in his arm and continued its travels through his body to his heart. A soft gurgle sounded in his throat as his heart exploded, causing instant death to occur.

Heero's rain soaked body dripped in the now silent room as he stood like a statue raised from his former hiding place behind a large stack of boxes. As if in turn each of the other pilots raised themselves up as well, each having a gun trained on a solider. Even kind hearted Quatre had a beautiful silver .22 trained on a young man, his cobalt blue eyes snapping with fury. As their leader fell, the remaining soldiers felt their humanity creeping up their backs as the four young men kept equally cold eyes upon them, eyes filled with contempt at these obviously sad attempts at soldiers. 

Quatre's voice dripped with ice as he snarled at the troops.

"Go…leave here in the next 5 seconds or we will kill every single one of you."

Despite their young exteriors, the soldiers had each heard stories about the brutality of the Gundam Pilots, and in the eyes of the young men, the stories all seemed to come true. Slowly they backed away as the Pilots advanced the one in the middle; the one with the dark blue eyes scared them the most. For his look held certain death for anyone who so much as looked again at the braided one. Finally their resolve broke and the remaining 5 fled the rage of the pilots.

Heero moved to Duo's side, his eyes though cold were betrayed by the soft touch of his hands as he untied Duo from the wall. The thin body of the American pilot slumping forward as the Japanese pilot softly caught him, cradling him in tender arms. Together the four pilots carried Duo from the carnage and brought him home. The rage at finding Duo's rain soaked hat on the side walk had almost been too much for Heero once the trail of blood, nearly washed clean by the rain lead the four to the warehouse. His grip tightened on the form still helpless in his arms as he entered the safehouse. The other three pilots busied themselves with giving Heero the necessary medical supplies before respectfully moving out of Duo and Heero's room where Duo had been placed carefully on the bed. The Peruvian blue eyes moved slowly over Duo's torn body, as Heero mechanically took the supplies and began the slow process of bandaging the many wounds that criss crossed Duo's body. His wealth of chestnut hair spread out around his pale face in a halo as Duo continued to sleep. Running his fingers through the silk, Heero picked up a nearby hairbrush and carefully rebraided Duo's hair, his hands lingering as he worked. After nearly an hour and a half of working on Duo, Heero pulled his chair closer to the bed and wrapped a blanket around himself, his exhaustion catching up. As he closed his eyes, the hand that had been innocently resting on the bed caught Duo's hand. The fingers wrapped securely around the angel's as he drifted off to sleep, most carefully making sure his angel would not be taken away again.

It was nearly 3 hours later that Duo awoke his eyes blurry at his surroundings. Comforting warmth covered his hand as he looked curiously over to the sleeping form beside his bed. Heero Yuy's head met his chest as he slept, Duo's hand securely intertwined with his. A lump crept up into his throat as he reached to his side with his free hand and sharply pinched himself to see if this was indeed a dream. The fiery pain flashed up Duo's side as he shook his head a bit now still trying to convince himself that this was real.

Heero's eyes opened to see Duo desperately trying to wake himself up from the apparent dream. His fingers squeezed for a moment as a slight smirk appeared on his lips.

"What do you think you're doing bakagami?"

Duo growled slightly as he cautiously squeezed the hand that enveloped his.

"It's Shinigami, not Bakagami Hee-chan."

"Duo…"

"Yea I know Heero…Don't call me that and Omae o korusu"

"Actually.." Heero didn't know where to begin. His training had taught him to be a robot yet this angel had brought him to life. His heart's ice finally melted in the gaze of two burning violet orbs, ones that were filled only with something Heero had always seen, just never truly known. "Duo, I saw your journal…."

Duo's eyes filled with what almost seemed like fear for a moment as the full impact of what Heero had said sunk in. "Shit.."

Heero's hand softly touching Duo's lips stopped the pilot from continuing. Peruvian blue eyes met violet ones with a softness Duo had never known existed in the one they called the perfect solider. Duo's voice was shaky as he spoke, his words coming out as unfamiliar.

"Heero….I…"

Once again his soft touch against Duo's pale red lips stopped the American in mid sentence. "I know what you're going to say…and I do feel the same…You're my angel, the only thing that stopped me time and time again from total self destruction."

Heero's words wrapped around Duo's soul as he listened to what he had only once hoped to have in his dreams. Duo's arm snaked out to wrap around Heero's waist, drawing him closer to Duo's still fragile form.

"Heero…I love you..I've always wanted to say that and now I have the chance…"

Heero smiled for the first time that Duo had ever seen before, his eyes lighting with a kind of happiness of one who has reached the end of a long journey. His arms wrapped around Duo protectively as his breath tickled the braided pilot's neck. Moving upwards, he softly parted his lips, touching them with the lightest of touches to Duo's. The warmth of their love wrapping around them like a blanket. As their lips parted almost regretful at the loss of contact, Heero moved his lips next to Duo's ear, allowing his breath to flow over Duo's ear.

"Duo…promise me that you'll always be my angel.."

Smiling the violet eyes danced as he lightly kissed his lover's cheek.

"Now and Forever Heero…Now and Forever."


End file.
